The raves Sarah Palin is getting--from Republicans and the commentariat, at least--now present some interesting challenges for McCain. His feisty running mate will certainly be a hard act to follow, and McCain's expectations, which had previously been low, thanks to his recent speech flops, have now surely been elevated. Moreover, this is not quite a dream ticket--McCain and Palin have fairly incongruous personas. The forced "maverick" stuff aside, there's little commonality between a stiff-moving 72 year old military vet senator and a spunky 44 year old Alaskan hockey mom. (One of these things was most definitely not like the others when the white-haired McCain ambled onstage tonight with Palin's vivacious young family.) The likeliest tone for McCain's Salter-written speech would be high solemnity, heavy on honor and patriotism and military valor. But that could be somewhat of a downer on the heels of Palin's mischievous stemwinder tonight.
Maybe it's time for that one-term pledge after all?
--Michael Crowley